Wednesday, March 30, 2011

So, on the most inconvenient day known to man, I got attacked by a rather large dog. To be fair he had growled a couple of times, but his owner was one of those lovely people who don't know the consulting hours pitched up early and then didn't want to go home, so I gave the dog a squeaky toy to keep it entertained. And of course it managed to send it rolling under a shelf and couldn't get it out.

So, figuring that he was far enough away for it to be safe I tried to kick it out and back to him. He took this as my going to ste the toy and launched himself at me, dragging his owner with him and attached himself to my leg.

After a brief tug-o-war where he refused to leg go and I refused to let him hold on, I spent the next ten minutes trying to calm the owner down, calling the vet and trying to stop getting blood all over the floor (by wiping it up really quickly), until I had the bright idea that maybe I should stop it pouring out of me first.

By that stage all kind of weird things were falling out of my leg, the vet took one look at me and decided I needed a doctor, covered me in bandages and called the other vet.

The next ten minutes involved my insisting I could drive myself to the hospital, selling dog food, tryng to calm people down, thanking the twenty million people who offered to take me to a doctor and finally being bundled into the vets car and off to the emergency room.

After an hour (you fill your name in and wait, they don't even seem to screen by seriousness of injury, only by medical aid or not), we were called up and told that as I didn't have the actual medical aid card on me, that i could be a nasty fraud and using someone else's medical aid. But pick up the phone for authorisation was too difficult so I would have to go home and email the med aid and ask for a certificate then I could go back and be treated.

I phoned my mother who went into a tail-spin, and insisted I leave immediately and go to my gp.

So about two and a half hours post-bite my GP and all his colleagues oohed and aahed over the bite, had a debate over techniques, sewed me up and gave me tetanus jabs and antibiotics and sent me on my way. I complained about my lack of camera phone (it looks so much less impressive all stitched up) and tried to get the doctor to squeeze more of the subcutaneous fat out (it was falling out already, and have you ever tried to change calf-size? it's impossible!).

I went home and off to gym (local anaesthetic on leg, it felt FINE), ate some dinner, took two painkillers and passed out with an ice-pack on the leg.

The next morning I stood up and almost passed out. The I had an exciting shower with one leg sticking out (and almost passed out), and then fed two excited dogs who jumped up against my legs (I saw spots, but only wobbled slightly) and then managed to drive off. It's slightly more painful tha admitting, particularly when I sit for too long and it gets all stiff.

The main issue is that the painkillers contain codeine AND a sedative (and a tiny bit of caffeine). I fell asleep at work several times, and was pretty much brainless when awake. Finally I went to the pharmacist and got something else and it's been a big improvement. I also got a first-aid qualified friend to check it out today and have it declared clean and (so far) infection free.

The strange this is that random people drop in at the vet now see how I'm doing. My answer is generally along the lines of "I'm very medicated, how are you?"

I guess I was rpetty lucky, it might not have been the best idea for me to be driving as I wasn't making logical sentences when I got home. And my bosses and the P1 and my mother have been very long-suffering in my whining, particularly when I haven't taken pain-meds for a while (I can only take them when I'm not planning on driving soon as I tend to go off into fairyland when I'm on them).

Oh, and if anyone can get me one of these for my birthday I would be the happiest girl alive! I NEEEEEED one!

Friday, March 25, 2011

It’s something that I’m relatively used to that I have a super-vivid dream life. I talk in my sleep, walk in my sleep, yell at people for stuff they’ve done in my dreams and often wake up when the phone rings and have a conversation related to my dream with the person on the other side.

Last night I had a dream that the cast of Dead Like Me (mainly Mason) hanging out in a train with Finn from Glee, discovering that there were newborn babies somehow psychically/telekinetically/voodoishly attached to them so that every time they moved the baby moved too. And i woke up with the tagline “I wanna party like a newborn” stuck in my head.

Not the point of the point of this post though. A while ago a ‘friend’ of mine treated me really really badly, and eventually told me that she would fake being half-friends with me for a while but eventually she’d lose touch on purpose and never speak to me again.

And she was in my dream and I went to her in front of a bunch of people in the train and i shouted at her. And I woke up feeling fantastic. And in traffic yesterday I realised why. In my attempt to avoid dragging our mutual friends (after we met 22 years ago most friends have been mutual) into the conflict she has basically been taking them away from me one by one. I don’t know what she tells them (although she told me to my face that she has lied to me and then accused me of being dishonest so I can imagine in her warped mind she must have invented all kinds of things).

so I think subconsciously I have been wanting to put my side of the story out there without being petty and hurting friends who shouldn’t have to choose between us. I feel like I’ve been treated unfairly and I can’t defend myself. and I feel like by being immature she’s actually winning. the high road hurts sometimes.

Who knows, all I can say is that I’m grateful for my dreams for letting me feel like I could do something about it, even if it didn’t really happen.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Which might just drag me out of blogger apathy for a while (Not sure if ‘stylish’ really applies to me considering that the best part of my year so far has been running around with pink hair, but I do like shiny things so I think I’ll keep it). So the usual drill applies: 7 things about me, plus a bunch of people to give it to.

I love climbing trees but am actually not much good at it. I also tore my jeans on a tree on the weekend.

I love running to ridiculous music. The sillier the better. The joy of going to the gym is that I often wonder if anything ‘leaks’ out of my headphones. I never know if the funny looks are from the music they might be able to hear or from the way I giggle at certain stages while red-faced, sweaty and trying desperately to keep running.

I find pictures of animals doing human things (such as sitting at a computer) rather disturbing. Animals wearing clothes is even worse. I do not know how I worked at a petshop for 2 years without having a breakdown in the middle of the dog tracksuits.

I got stung by a scorpion for the first time last weekend. It still hurts.

I use dog shampoo. It works fantastically well as well as being sulphate free, paraben free and soap free. It’s also a fraction of the price of the equivalent in human shampoo (and it wasn’t tested on animals either). So about that stylish award…

I have always been fascinated by the circus, and Cirque du Soleil was incredible enough to reawaken my old dream of running away and joining the circus. P1 said I bounced continuously for the full 2 hours.

So, who to give this to… I guess if you’re feeling more stylish than me (i.e. if you are a normal functioning human being) then feel free to take it if you’re someone who reads this and comments occasionally. just let me know please! And Vanessa, who just got her first blog and therefore requires a first award and will never take it unless it’s forced on her.

Friday, March 04, 2011

As we all know I’m a sucker for things like this! if you want to join in link to here.

1. The phrase or punctuation I overuse most is ellipses… definitely… I can irritate myself sometimes when I can’t stop using the little dots…

2. Today I am thankful for coffee. and for my dad who took one look at me this morning and brought me a cup.

3. My best friend is: well I don’t believe in the concept of best friends, people have different reasons that make me love them and they all fulfil very important roles in my life. In terms of the first person I call when something exciting happens, then it would be the P1.

4. A quirky thing about me is that I can only really exercise after 9pm, generally not too long after dinner. I actually like cold showers.

5. This weekend I am doing as little as possible. It’s my last weekend here for a while though so I can foresee it getting hectic. So far all I have scheduled is a birthday party.

6. Something that worries me is the way that everything is changing all the time but at the same time nothing seems to change at all. I worry that with everything moving around so much there won’t be anywhere for me anymore.

7. On my night stand you would find my glasses, a box crammed full of earrings, my antibiotics (2 days to go!), nail polish (always gravitates there), a lamp and enough things that I have to be careful rolling over during the night as that can start an avalanche is my duvet is at the wrong angle.

As some people have problems with uneven bullet points, I will add in another one:

About Me

My greatest ambition in life is to leave a room without having to go back for all the things I forgot to fetch. And to go for more than a week without losing my keys. Brilliant academic falls a little way behind that!